Gardner-Chloros: Code-Switching

Gardner-Chloros: Switch ReferenceIntroduction1. What is code-switching (CS)?- mixed discourse / mixed language speech / mixed codes- way of expressing group identity (characteristic accent)- sociolinguistic environment plays a role- linguistic and sociolinguistic factors- CS helps understand identity formation and expression in bilinguals - CS helps to understand how language is processed and produced in the brain- CS helps to understand which words/morphemes from languages can easily be combined and which are more resistant/impossible (CS as a signpost for a better understanding of grammar)- CS helps to understand the division of labour between lexicon and grammar- most of the world is plurilingual (norm)- many multilingual areas in the world (e.g. Creole-speaking areas)- people who speak a regional dialect- migrants and their descendants- diglossia (Flemish people)3. A common-sense approach- Pragmatic research on CS: conversational functions of CS and its effect on participants- CS = multifaceted phenomenon- little agreement about CS, its definition and limits- different methodological approaches- we should try to formulate grammatical tendencies instead of absolute rules- assumptions underlying tried and tested methodological paradigms are often insufficiently discussed (e.g. variationist descriptions of CS)- widespread belief that all bilingual utterances have an underlying "Matrix Language" (grammatical template = particular language)- What is a "homogenous" language?study of CS should force us to think "out of the box" (review methodologies, theoretical approaches and assumptions developed in a monlingual context)4. The study of code-switching- Milroy/Muysken (1995): "perhaps the central issue in bilingualism research"- the significance of CS was overlooked for a long time- explosion of interest in CS in the last forty years (started with Gumperz in the 1960s)- multilayered significance of CS (difficulties of studying it)- CS is "fuzzy-edged": borrowing, syntactic merging, transgression, alternation, - Muysken (2000): code-mixing = insertion, congruent lexicalization- Haugen (1956): code-switching (character of the contributing varieties is preserved) vs. interference and integration- Poplack (1988): code-switching vs. borrowing/nonce borrowing (some measures of convergence)- Gardner-Chloros/Myers-Scotton: no clear distinction between code-switching and borrowing (diachronic continuum) - others argue that the distinction has to be decided individually - Muysken (2000): code-switching (two codes maintain their monolingual characteristics) vs. code-mixing (some convergence)- Sridhar (1980)/ Bokamba (1988): code-switching (alternation going beyond sentence borders) vs. code-mixing (alternation within the sentence)- Meisel (1989): code-switching (pragmatic skill of selecting a language according to context) vs. code-mixing (fusion of two grammatical systems)- social psychology: CS refers to language choices in a bilingual setting- Pfaff (1979): general term covering all outcomes of contact between two varieties- CS vs. loanwords, pidgins, mixed languages7. Speakers' insights- CS often occurs due to laziness (But: Does it actually involve less or more effort than monolingual speech?)- even code-switchers disapprove of CS (But: CS does not seem to be connected to education.)- level of awareness of CS is far beyond the reality of code-switchers- balanced bilingual = can speak either variety equally competently (CS as deliberate compromise strategy?)- psycholinguistics: inhibiting one language and the joint activation of two languages requires some effort- dissociation between how speakers use their linguistic competence and what they know or think they know about it8. Further types of code-switching8.1. Tri-/Plurilinguals: the fact of switching once creates the possibility for further switchingadvocates a "common sense" approach